No Interruptions Day
December 31st is No Interruptions Day! Make a conscious effort today to limit interruptions. When you learn to redirect your focus towards completing tasks you can be more mindful about your actions and the work that you are getting done.
Minimizing interruptions is a great way to be more mindful and productive during your day. Today is No Interruptions Day so what better day than today to start to change some of your habits to become less distracted. Check out our ideas below to increase your focus:
- Minimize interruptions – phone on airplane / turn off notifications
- If you’re feeling overwhelmed or frazzled take a short break – go for a walk, or stretch the movement away from your desk will feel great and reset your mind
- Make a list: Having a list of items that you’ll focus on will help you stay on track.
- Focus on one thing at a time: Multitasking used to be all the rage but studies have shown that isn’t very effective. Set a time to focus on one task at a time, make it a priority to get as much done as you can in the allotted time you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish!
- Declutter your space: Having a cluttered space can impact your focus and make it harder to concentrate. Take a few minutes to clean up extra clutter before your work day to eliminate distractions in your environment.
- Take short breaks: Setting time blocks and working short breaks into your schedule will increase your productivity and focus.
Take today to really reflect on how you are spending your time. Are you letting too many distractions get in the way of your work? Following some of the simple tips that we outlined above will really help kick off your productivity and bring more focus and mindfulness to all aspects of your life.
Quick Self Awareness Exercise to Increase Happiness & Satisfaction
We spend too much of our lives living on autopilot, we are not consciously aware of our thoughts, emotions, and actions – they just seem to happen sometimes. We spend up to 95% of our lives in autopilot mode so the vast majority of our thoughts are not conscious. Unfortunately that means that most of our thoughts go unchecked and that’s where our limiting beliefs can negatively impact us. These thoughts are often insidious – the ones that are telling us we are not enough, the thoughts that are judging others and picking situations apart.
The best way to reduce the unchecked thoughts and limiting beliefs is by bringing conscious awareness back to our day. When we have awareness of our thoughts and emotions we can start to work on changing them to be more positive words and releasing our limiting beliefs. The best way to bring awareness back to our day is to notice what we’re noticing. Here’s an exercise that really helps with that!
“Notice what You’re Noticing”
Pause for 1 minute to ask & jot down answers:
What am I thinking about right now?
What am I feeling right now?
This is a quick exercise you can do a few times a day that dramatically increases your self awareness around your thoughts and emotions. There are a few ways to remember to do this exercise, and my favorite is to set a phone alarm to go off randomly throughout the day. When the alarm goes off, I take 1 minute to do this exercise. Another great time to do this is when you wash your hands and look in the mirror because this is a great time to check in with yourself!
Ask these questions with open hearted curiosity and without judging yourself where you are. Remember to show yourself some grace! This is a practice of self awareness and even the most self aware people will still find themselves experiencing negative thoughts and emotions. So any time you find yourself thinking or feeling something you don’t want to, instead of being upset with yourself that you’re feeling those things, take a deep breath! Thank yourself for noticing that you’re in a place where you don’t want to be and intentionally shift your focus to the thoughts and emotions that you do want to have. If you get upset with yourself, that is negative reinforcement, which only creates a situation that makes you want to stop doing the exercise. If you kindly thank yourself for noticing when you’re out of alignment, it is positive reinforcement to continue this journey of increasing your self awareness.
This simple exercise helps us increase our self awareness which helps us shift our mindset to be more positive, allows us to be more present, and increases happiness and satisfaction with life!
Self awareness journey has no destination so remember to enjoy the ride! And if you find yourself in need of more support around self awareness, thoughts, emotions, or limiting beliefs, feel free to reach out to Kitty for support (here is a link to a 30 minute complimentary discovery call)!
Gratitude is Great for Mental Fitness!
Practicing gratitude in your day to day is a great way to bring more happiness into your life. This simple act of changing your perspective can have profound effects on your mental health, physical health and can bring more positivity into your world. Make it a point to be aware of how you are reacting to situations and look at things from a new perspective. You would be surprised at all of the amazing ways practicing gratitude can impact your life. Check out our list below for how gratitude improves your life:
- Gratitude increases mental strength: Studies have shown that practicing gratitude can have profound effects on those who have experienced trauma. Gratitude can really help build resilience to better help your brain cope with stressors.
- Gratitude improves self-esteem: Those who are grateful are able to really appreciate and be happy for others accomplishments. These types of people don’t play the comparison game or feel resentment towards or jealousy.
- Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression: Grateful people overall experience more positivity and are less likely to retaliate against others and have fewer tendencies to seek revenge or cause harm.
- Grateful people sleep better: Those that spend even 15 minutes a day reflecting on why they are grateful can get a better night’s rest than those who don’t practice gratitude.
- Gratitude improves psychological health: Studies have shown that gratitude reduces many toxic emotions such as jealousy and frustration. There is a link between gratitude increasing happiness and overall well being.
- Gratitude opens the door to more relationships: When you practice gratitude you’ll have a more positive outlook overall and an energetic personality that others will be drawn to. Your openness will help create new connections and other people will want to be around your energy more.
- Gratitude improves physical health: Practice gratitude overall has great health benefits. You’ll experience lower stress levels, and fewer aches and pains. Grateful people are more likely to take care of their health, exercise, and eat healthy meals.
Practicing gratitude has so many amazing benefits. When practicing gratitude you’ll be more open minded, overall healthier and will attract great things into your life!
September is Self-Improvement Month!
Self-improvement is so important! The most successful people and leaders in the world work on themselves and are always focused on self-improvement. Working on self-improvement helps enhance strengths, improves mental health, and can heal relationships.
Here are a few tips for self-improvement:
- Go for a walk or exercise. Getting some exercise during your day will improve your mental health, and can really improve how you overall show up for yourself and others.
- Meditate. Slowing down with meditation is a great way to improve self-awareness and self-esteem. Lower your stress, anxiety and foster kindness through meditation.
- Read more books. Reading will help keep your brain sharp and improve overall brain health.
- Adjust your diet. Incorporate more fruits and veggies and eliminate processed foods as much as possible. Making small tweaks towards a healthy diet creates big results in your physical and mental/emotional health!
- Schedule a private coaching session with Kitty. If you’re feeling like you need an extra boost, schedule a private coaching session with Kitty can really help you get on the right track!
Prosper Where You Are Planted!
September is Prosper Where You Are Planted Month. The saying “prosper where you are planted” means to accept your present situation and to take advantage of all the opportunities around you. That is easier said than done! We often find ourselves resisting the current situation and thinking to ourselves “the future will be better when…” This is a slippery slope that actually prevents us from having what we want. Oftentimes when people are unhappy in life they’re focusing on the negative aspects of their situation. Let’s use this month to rewrite our narratives. Let’s break free from the constraints of waiting for the “perfect” moment and start seeing the potential within each moment. It’s a shift in perspective that empowers us to cultivate a garden of opportunity right where we stand, embracing the gifts that our present situation offers. With practice, we have the power to transform adversity into growth and flourish in even the most unexpected circumstances. Life’s twists and turns might not always lead us down the path we envisioned, but they can lead us towards remarkable personal growth and resilience.
Here are some tips on how you can learn how to thrive and prosper where you are planted!
How to Thrive:
Step 1: Shift your mindset to an attitude of gratitude. Be grateful for everything in your life, even the negative things. When you’re in a tough situation, be grateful for the lessons it’s teaching you and the opportunity to grow. I challenge you to take any negative thing in your life and find 3 positives that have come out of it!
Step 2: Be present! Usually when we’re feeling upset it’s because we’re regretting the past or worrying about the future. Take some deep breaths and realize how amazing it is that you’re alive right now. When you focus on the present moment, most of your negative emotions will just fall away. The easiest way to focus on the present is to focus on your breath as it goes in and out of your nose.
Step 3: Look for opportunities around you. This is often tricky when you’re feeling negative emotions, so get creative! Make a list of 10 opportunities that are available to you right now in the situation you’re working through. It might feel like a stretch to get to 10, but I know you can if you brainstorm! This may involve doing new things, taking risks and getting out of your comfort zone. It may also involve making connections, asking for help and working diligently.
Step 4: Make the most of each day. Don’t let yourself get stuck in procrastination, fear, anxiety or any other negative emotion! Be a positive force in the world by bringing positivity into your life and the lives of others! Brainstorm 5 ways that you take action in the day and get moving on them! They can be little things, like smiling at people on the street as you walk by.
When you focus on these 4 steps, you will bloom in your life and grow into the person you want to become!
I just want to note that this is easier said than done because sometimes it’s hard not to be negative! Our brains are actually conditioned to focus on the negative evolutionarily, because having an eye on the things that are “wrong” in the situation – like a sabertooth tiger on the other side of the field – actually kept you alive. Unfortunately this means that we will naturally tend to focus on and talk about what we don’t like instead of what we do like. Training your brain to focus on the positive can be tricky without guidance. It’s important to show yourself a lot of grace while you’re practicing on improving your mindset. If you are having trouble shifting your mindset or feeling stuck and want some support to prosper in your current circumstances, then check out the EVOX. It’s a biofeedback device that literally rewires your brain for more happiness and success!
To learn more about how Kitty can help you make your lemons in life into lemonade, book a free discovery call.
A Strong Mindset for Strength Training
Mindfulness and strength training go hand in hand! Meditation through movement is easy, you just move mindfully and focus your attention on your body movements. Counting the repetitions in your lifts can be calming and meditative, similar to focusing on your breath. Try of these suggestions the next time you’re lifting weights:
– Focus on your breath. Pay attention to the air going in and coming out of your lungs.
– Have a mantra. Create a mantra to say with each repetition or each inhale/exhale. You’d be shocked how much having a powerful mantra can boost your workout!
Make your own mantra or try these out: “I am enough,” “I am strong,” “I am powerful,” “Yes I can,” “I’ve got this.”
– Concentrate on the movement. Move your muscles slowly and really think about the muscle groups you’re using. You can focus on any aspect of the physical movement you like. Some examples are focusing on your form or thinking about what the muscles feel like as you move them.
